


oh, how do i show all the love in my heart?

by ohprongs



Series: malec single parent aus [7]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: AU, Human AU, M/M, Malec AU, Teacher!Alec, as usual: rafael is a bane not a lightwood-bane, bc single parents yo, i know brooklyn has more than one elementary school but i just...im indifferent to this fact, re the M rating: it's mainly just kissing + references to sex, the second section is the most explicit part, this started as porn and grew feelings, yet again i have no idea how american schools work so sorry for any inaccuracies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-21
Updated: 2016-12-21
Packaged: 2018-09-09 00:54:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8869471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohprongs/pseuds/ohprongs
Summary: the ‘hey we hooked up last night and it turns out you are my child’s teacher’ au





	

**Author's Note:**

> i was totally supposed to write this instead of my wip!! that's a true statement!! (oops)
> 
> title from _through the dark_ by kt tunstall

Labour Day weekend was interesting. 

Rafael spent both days with his Mom - Magnus dropped him at Camille's Friday evening after work, and then she'd brought him back Sunday afternoon - which meant that Magnus had enough time to recover from - 

Well.

Safe to say, meeting Alec had been a definite highlight. 

∞

"Oh, god," Alec moans, Magnus' teeth scraping lightly down the side of his neck. 

He lets out a rough breath that's music to Magnus' ears and his fingers scrabble at Magnus' shoulders, tugging him upwards. 

"C'mere, please kiss me," Alec says insistently, and what's Magnus gonna do? 

He surges up, closing the tiny gap between them, kissing Alec deep and long and messy. Alec's fingers trail in Magnus' hair, nails running lightly over his scalp, and Magnus sighs happily into Alec's mouth. 

"You're so hot," Alec manages to say between kisses, and Magnus pulls back just enough so he can chuckle against Alec's jaw. 

"Have you seen yourself, darling?" he asks. 

Alec smiles at him, all crooked and bright, and Magnus rakes his eyes up and down Alec's body. 

"What do you want?" he asks, toying with the top two buttons on Alec's shirt. Alec lets out a ragged breath and looks right at Magnus. 

"I want you to fuck me," he says, and then, nothing but playful, adds, "please."

Magnus swallows, heart thudding along in the wake of Alec's words. He knows what he’s doing, sure, but he also doesn’t. Fuck, he really doesn’t. It’s been too long and he thought his heart was stronger now, but looking at the grin on Alec’s face is something else.

He pops the buttons on Alec's shirt and stares at the chest revealed, lips parted. 

"Is that okay?" asks Alec a moment later, doubt lacing his tone. "We don't have to fuck at all, or I can - if you prefer -"

"No, I..." Magnus trails off, taking a moment to compose himself. He takes Alec's hand, a gentle, intimate gesture compared to the frantic heat of their previous touches. "I was about to reply, but in my defence, you're very distracting." He smiles, watches Alec smile right back at him. "I would love to, since you asked so politely. It's been a while since I've been with anyone, man or woman, but I think I remember the basics."

Alec begins to unbutton Magnus' shirt, keeping his gaze locked on Magnus. 

"Like riding a bike, isn't that what they say?"

Magnus lifts an eyebrow. "I'm much more fun to ride than a bike," he starts, but the rest of his sentence gets swallowed up by the breathy _fuck_ Alec lets out on seeing Magnus' chest, revealed by his open shirt.

Oh, it would be so easy to fall for this one.

Magnus tugs on Alec's hand and leads him away from the front door, then remembers he's not at home and doesn't know where the bedroom is. 

"Wait - I have no clue where I'm going," he admits, and he isn't expecting Alec's peal of happy laughter to ring out, but God is it a good sound. 

"This way," Alec says, stepping forward to lead Magnus. 

Somehow they make it to the bedroom without getting their hands on each other, and once they fall onto Alec’s double bed Magnus almost doesn’t know where to start.

Shirts come off and pants follow. Alec’s hands stroke in sure circles along Magnus’ shoulders, down his arms, over his stomach. His fingertips leave a burning trail wherever they go, marking out new patterns Magnus hasn’t been exposed to in…a very long time. Too long.

He gets pulled from the moment, thinking. Hoping. His breath catches as Alec presses a gentle kiss to the underside of his jaw, suddenly overwhelmed by the simple sweetness of the gesture.

“Hey,” Alec murmurs, propping himself up on his elbows and hovering over Magnus. He frowns down at him, heavy eyebrows drawn together. “You okay? You spaced out a little.”

Magnus swallows, takes in the hazel eyes searching his own face for any sign of doubt or uncertainty. He reaches up, running a hand through Alec’s hair and then cupping his jaw. 

“Yeah,” he whispers. “It’s just been a while since I’ve shared anything like this with anyone,” he admits. 

Alec turns his head and kisses the pad of Magnus’ thumb. Instead of soothing Magnus’ worry, it makes a dangerous hope flair in his chest. 

“Just…” Magnus closes his eyes. He takes a long breath and centres himself. “Just tell me, before we do this. How much do you want?”

Alec disentangles their legs and moves away from Magnus, which just about answers the question. Magnus swallows hard and nods, ready to push down any feelings that might have been threatening to bubble up and up and over, ready to accept that Alec doesn’t want that. 

“Okay, I get it,” Magnus says, already accepting Alec’s non verbal answer, which is why he’s shocked when he leans down to start kissing Alec again and gets a gentle finger to his lips. 

“You didn’t let me say anything,” Alec protests lightly. He brushes Magnus’ lips with his own, the briefest touch. “The question seemed - important to you. I thought maybe - I didn’t -” he glances down, cheeks pink. “I thought, ‘maybe I shouldn’t answer him with my dick pressed into his hip’.”

Of any response Magnus is expecting, it’s not that. He blanches momentarily and then his lips twitch into a smile, some of the heaviness in his chest easing.

“You're right,” Magnus says. “Breathing room would be best.”

Alec nods, shifts his lower half away from Magnus. He does run a finger down the plane of Magnus’ stomach, though, which doesn’t really do much to calm Magnus down. 

“Honestly?” Alec starts. “I've had boyfriends, but I haven’t a one night stand before. I don’t really know about the whole - sex without feelings thing. So if that scares you away or you _do_ want that, or whatever, that’s okay. I - we can. I don’t know. Try. For whatever you want.” He cringes, burrows his head into Magnus’ shoulder. “I’m not explaining this very well.”

Magnus tilts his head to the side. “I haven’t been in - felt very deeply for anyone in a long time. I have a tendency to tip head over heels right around the word ‘hello’, but…” Magnus thinks about Rafael’s sleepy smile as he sings him a lullaby each night and his voice softens. “I’ve had other priorities. I just wanted to know whether I needed to think of you as someone I’d never see again or someone I…might. I didn’t mean to make it this intense.”

Alec slowly emerges from Magnus’ shoulder. “No, no. It’s good. To talk about it, make sure we’re on the same page. I’d like - I think maybe the - the second one?”

Magnus’ heart jolts. He almost dares to believe. 

He grazes Alec’s mouth with a whisper of a kiss. “I’d like that, too.”

∞

"Tell me something about yourself," Magnus says later, after, curled up next to Alec, head pillowed in his hand. 

Alec smiles at him, gentle fingers idly tracing the curve of Magnus' jaw. 

"I'm starting a new job on Monday," he says.

Magnus catches Alec's fingers in his own and entwines them. Their hands lay palm to palm and a peaceful contentment washes over the pair. 

"Are you nervous?" asks Magnus. 

"I was," Alec admits. He cocks a smile, and it seems like he can't help laughing. "Now I'm too sexed out to even think about it."

Then he honest to God giggles, and Magnus can't handle it. 

"Sorry," he says a moment later, "I was just thinking, I was gonna be like, 'I'm too sexed out to think straight', but then I was like, 'well, nothing about me is straight.'"

Magnus laughs, tucking his head into Alec's shoulder. 

"Thank God," is his only comment. 

Alec rests his cheek against the top of Magnus' head. 

"Tell me something about you," he says. 

Magnus swallows. Does he want to -?

The thing is, his love for Rafael is infinite. Even on their bad days, nothing would stop him from razing hell to protect his son, and sometimes Magnus wants to gather Rafael in his arms and never let go. To love endlessly, unconditionally, comes naturally to Magnus.

But for some, it's different. Magnus hasn't really done the hook up thing since - well, since Raf was born. Camille doesn't see Rafael all that much, and Magnus is always conscious of imposing on his friends' babysitting generosity, so he hasn't really had the opportunity. But he's been on a couple of dates with a few people, and they've been politely interested but ultimately don’t want to know when he tells them he has a kid. 

Fuck it. Alec said he wanted to see Magnus again, but he and Rafael are a package deal, no two ways around it.

"I have a son," Magnus says, "and a cat."

He doesn't realise he's holding his breath until his lungs start protesting, and tries to let out then draw in a measured stream of air. 

"That's two things," is the first thing Alec says, and then, "how old is he?"

Magnus shifts, moving his head off Alec's chest and back to the pillow so he can read Alec's expression. This is possibly one of the most important conversations they're going to have. Rafael comes first, always. 

"He's seven," Magnus says. "Rafael, not the cat."

Alec smiles, eyebrows raised. "No way. I teach second graders," he says. "I bet he's a good kid."

Alec obviously likes kids - kids around Raf's age - and he's not reacted negatively. In fact, he's made it...easy. 

He's probably the type of guy it would be completely okay to introduce Raf to - none of the awkward condescension or fake cheeriness from adults who aren't sure how to talk to kids because it's so long since they were one. They could get take out and eat in front of the TV, Raf and Alec getting to know each other, Alec slipping Rafael soda and cookies when Magnus isn't looking, because what's better than your Dad's new boyfriend becoming your partner in crime? 

Magnus isn't sure when he started entertaining such homely scenarios with the three of them. 

"Yeah?" Magnus asks. Not his most eloquent, but he's still stuck on the achingly domestic scene. He clears his throat. "What do you teach?"

"Bits of everything mostly," Alec says. "Wherever they need me. But my specialisms are English and History."

He says it almost shyly, which is weird considering they're both naked in his bed and he had his tongue in Magnus' ass an hour ago. 

God, a man who hasn't run a mile at the mention of being a single parent _and_ likes to eat guys out. Maybe Magnus' standards are too low, but at the moment, Alec seems about perfect. 

∞

"I'm not joking," Alec pants, "I can't do this anymore." He catches his breath and curls into Magnus, who's just crawled up the bed to lie next to Alec. 

Magnus lets out a breathy laugh and runs a hand through Alec's hair. 

"I'm serious," whines Alec. "I don't think I've ever had this many orgasms in one weekend in my life. My dick is gonna fall off."

"I'm not sure that's anatomically accurate," Magnus teases. "You're teaching biology to some of your kids, right?"

Alec manages to prise his eyes open. To be fair to him, he had only just woken up, whispering sleepy _good mornings_ when Magnus started trailing kisses up his jaw and down his neck and across his collarbone and then -

So it's taken him a moment to get his wits about him. Magnus is flattered, to be honest.

"I guess," Alec agrees half heartedly, "but my sister was always the science nerd in our house."

Magnus hums. Alec smooths a thumb against Magnus' bottom lip and then cups his chin in his hand. 

“So, you know last night?” he starts, voice gentle and deep in the morning air, “I was wondering if - we could. But then you told me about your son, so maybe what I thought won’t work.” 

Alec seems to be half-talking to himself, a cute little frown wrinkling his brow. Magnus kisses him.

“Whatever you’re thinking, I’m sure I’d love it,” he says. “We could do it now - one of my rare weekends off."

Magnus bites his lip, closing his eyes briefly.

"No, I didn't mean it like that. I love Rafael more than anything - it's not like I need time off. It's just sometimes it's nice to have a weekend to myself. To catch up on laundry or housework or reading or -"

"Having sex with school teachers," Alec finishes, smiling. 

Magnus swats him. "Anyway, what I'm saying is, seize the moment. Because usually I won't be able to drop everything for spontaneous plans, or if I do come, I'll probably have a seven year old in tow." The _please still want me_ goes unsaid. Why ruin the mood?

Alec raises his eyebrows. "You'd be happy for me to meet Rafael?" he asks. 

Magnus studies Alec: the warm, serious eyes, gentle smile on his lush pink lips, and -

Well. One or two or six love bites making a beautiful path down Alec’s neck.

“Once I get to know you a bit,” Magnus says eventually, tearing his eyes away from Alec’s skin.

Alec quirks an eyebrow. “In the biblical sense?” he asks teasingly.

Magnus fixes Alec with a look. “I just gave you a good morning blow job, Alec,” Magnus reminds him flatly. “I think we _know_ each other just fine.” 

Alec manages to look abashed for all of five seconds before he’s laughing into the stillness of the morning, making Magnus’ heart skip in double time.

“What time do you need to leave?” he asks, still smiling. “I’m not trying to kick you out or anything, I just didn’t know if you needed to get back for Rafael.” Then his eyes go wide. “Sorry, do you mind if I use his name?”

Magnus smiles, feeling weightless. A small voice is telling him this could be _it_ , finally, and he rolls over so he can hover over Alec. “I don’t mind,” he says honestly, “and I’m free for a couple more hours.”

Alec kisses Magnus soundly. “Did you wanna do something?” he asks. “A - a spontaneous plan?”

Magnus almost feels like crying. Alec _cares_. Alec is being so careful to make this work after knowing him for less than twenty four hours. Honestly, maybe his luck just came in.

“How about brunch?” Magnus suggests. “There’s this great little place near my block.” Then he bites his lip. “In Brooklyn.”

Alec raises an eyebrow. “You live in Brooklyn?”

Magnus nods, then laughs a little bit. They really don’t know anything about each other, but somehow, it feels like things could…work.

Looking at Alec’s gorgeous smile, Magnus feels lighter than he has in months. 

Things could work.

∞

Labour Day weekend _was_ interesting. 

But now Magnus is in the yard of Brooklyn Elementary School, clutching Rafael’s hand, making amenable chatter with a couple of the other parents, and when he happens to glance across to the teachers coming out of the building he sees -

Fuck.

It’s Alec.

Magnus manages to keep the internal panic to a minimum until the kids get called to meet their new teachers and Alec’s deep voice calls, "Rafael Bane!" 

For  _fuck's_ sake.

∞

Magnus crouches down in front of Rafael; brushes his fringe to the side, straightens the collar of his jacket. 

"Good luck, _sayang_ ," he says, "you'll be fine."

Rafael nods, determined. "I already did first grade, Dad," he reminds Magnus. "I will be fine."

Magnus hugs him and then stands up, ruffling Rafael's hair. In the short time his attention has been solely focussed on Rafael, he'd almost forgotten about the Alec dilemma. 

But now he's - literally - face to face with it, and he watches Alec watch him, a trace of surprise on his handsome face. 

"Hey, Magnus," he says, a strange note in his voice. Then he clears his throat, cheeks going pink. "I mean, uh - Mr -" he scans the sheet on the clipboard in front of him, glances twice at Rafael, then nods. "Mr Bane." He smiles at the little boy. "You must be Rafael. I'm Mr Lightwood, your teacher. Why don't you go and join the others?"

Rafael nods and skips off happily, waving back at Magnus as he goes. 

Magnus feels Alec's eyes on him and meets his gaze. 

"We have photos of the kids from last year," Alec explains, holding up his clipboard. "I wasn't stalking you to find out your surname."

Magnus nods. "I guessed." He swallows, throat tight against a familiar feeling of disappointment. He should have known his luck would run out at some point. "Well, unfortunately this isn't the weirdest second encounter I've ever had with a hook up. I'll let you get back to your kids."

He turns to walk away but his stopped by the lightest of touches on his coat sleeve, a hand which is dropped almost as soon as it makes contact with him. 

"Hey," Alec murmurs, then glances around at the other parents and takes a step back. "I thought we said - more than a hook up."

Magnus licks his lips. "Alec, we can't do this here," he says. The hopeful smile on Alec's face dims slightly, and Magnus wants to reach out and pull him close. Maybe - 

If Alec wants this too, maybe they can make it work. "But I want to talk about it," Magnus affirms. "What time do you finish work?"

"I'll be home about five," Alec tells him. 

Magnus nods, quickly checks his schedule on his phone's calendar. "Okay. I can be there at 6.30?"

Alec smiles. "See you later."

∞

Magnus can't help fidgeting with the sleeves of his peacoat as he waits for Alec to answer the door. He's uncharacteristically nervous - he's never had to break up with anyone before they've even started dating before.

Alec opens the door after thirty five seconds - not that Magnus' is counting to distract himself, or anything - and sort of smiles and frowns all at once, the smile in greeting and the frown at the situation, Magnus supposes.

"Well, this certainly feels different to the last time I was here," Magnus comments as he follows Alec inside, because why not? They're both going to be thinking about the fact that they practically got off against the front door Alec's currently closing carefully, no point skirting around the issue.

Alec laughs a little self-deprecating huff and rubs the back of his neck. "Did you want a drink?"

Magnus waves his hand. "I can't stay long," he says. Alec's eyebrows draw together, a look of hurt flickering across his face. Magnus adds, "Sorry if I'm being hostile. I thought for the first time in a long time that maybe I'd get a chance to...that we'd have a chance. And now we don't, and I'm pissed off about it. Not at you, particularly, just at life in general."

Alec smiles softly at him, then gestures to the couch. Magnus unbuttons his coat and sits down, Alec opposite him in a cosy looking armchair. A pile of folders perches on the end table beside him.

"If you want to write us off completely, I understand," Alec says, glancing between his thumbs and Magnus, "but I have a suggestion. If you want to hear it."

Magnus draws in a breath and relaxes into the couch cushions. "I'm all ears."

Alec leans forward, elbows on knees. "We put us on hold for now," he says. "I know it's  _literally_ the start of term, so we've got ages. A year. But we don't know anything about each other, so that would give us a chance to - get to know each other. As friends. And then, the problem isn't that I'm a teacher, but that I'm _Rafael_ _'s_ teacher, so when he moves up a grade, if there's still, you know - something, something between us, then we could..." he trails off.

Magnus looks at Alec. "You'd be happy to wait a whole year?" he asks, a little dumbfounded.

"I wouldn't think of it as waiting," Alec shrugged. "More like, starting slowly. You never know, maybe we got everything out of our system over the weekend and, come July, we wanna stay as friends." He gives Magnus a once over, then blushes. "But maybe not."

Magnus opens his mouth a couple of times and closes it. He's not often lost for words, but Alec's proposal has kind of blown him away. In a really, really good way.

"You know we only met, like, two days ago, right?" he says finally. "To anyone else we probably look - ridiculous."

Alec licks his lips. "Sometimes you find someone and you just...know."

Magnus' heart bursts. "They unlock something in you," he murmurs, staring at Alec. Alec gives a little nod, falling silent. "I would like to try your suggestion," Magnus says after moment. "I'd like to, very much."

Alec smiles at him then, a slow sunrise spreading across his face. "Good. Great. That's - yeah." He ducks his head, still smiling. "Great."

Magnus stays for a while longer. Though they're kind of stumbling through conversation, both trying too hard to keep it entirely platonic, it's  _nice_. It's warm and makes Magnus feel light and bubbly, and he leaves Alec's believing that they still have a chance. 

∞

They manage it, mostly.

Magnus has been asked more times than he can count how long he's been friends with Alec, because according to the other parents at the school gate they're very at ease around each other. And that's _after_ they decided they should stop talking to each other at pick up and drop off times. 

They schedule meet ups when Rafael is at Camille's, keep it secret. Not because they're ashamed, or because Magnus doesn't want Rafael to know that boys can fall in love with other boys, or anything like that, but because they'd agreed it was best to stop Alec's students accidentally finding out from Rafael in case they turned on him. They meet in public - go for coffee, lunch, walks in the park; they have rules - certain topics they never discuss (Rafael, any of Alec's other students, Alec's parents) and topics they always talk about (Chairman Meow, Magnus' latest clients, Alec's colleagues' love-lives).  

The second parent-teacher conference is the hardest. Alec, the absolute bastard that he is, shakes Magnus' hand when they first sit down, and that small point of contact makes Magnus' world spin. There's a trace of a smirk playing around Alec's lips as he begins to read out the first section of Raf's report card, and if Magnus' foot accidentally makes contact with Alec's shin under the desk, that's for Magnus to know.

∞

Their first date isn't really their first date, but it feels like one. Magnus keeps fiddling with his hair, prodding at the gold tips, until Raf comes to stand in front of him and says, matter-of-factly,

"Daddy, you look beautiful. Go and see your boyfriend."

Magnus spins around, looks straight at his son. "I haven't got a boyfriend," he says honestly, because who even knows what he and Alec are?

Rafael rolls his eyes. "I heard you talking to Aunt Cat about him yesterday," he says, as if this explains everything, and then he realises what he just said and clamps his teeth into his lip, eyes wide.

"You mean, in my private conversation with my friend, that we had when you were in bed?" Magnus asks, already picking a squealing Rafael up and tipping him in the air.

"Yeah, that one," Rafael giggles, clutching onto Magnus' neck and hugging him tightly.

Magnus wraps his arms around Rafael and squeezes him. "I love you."

"I love you, too," Raf says, and then, more like a parent than a child, "Have fun on your date."

∞

Rafael gets super hyped when Magnus asks him if he wants to go for a sleepover at Uncle Luke and Aunt Jocelyn's. He doesn't stop talking about it for days, and Magnus can barely wait for the weekend, too, because Alec's coming over.  _Staying_ over. 

Luke and Jocelyn know about Alec, which is why they'd offered to have Rafael. Magnus pays them in expensive wine, even though he practically has to shove it at them and run before they can give it back - while they love seeing Raf, Magnus is probably going to get laid for the first time in nearly a year, and he feels like the facilitators of the occasion deserve some gratitude.

Alec turns up at Magnus' door on the Saturday evening with a stack of DVDs and a bright smile, and they manage to get half an hour into _The Graduate_ before clothes start coming off.

∞

"I really need to get up."

Magnus _hmphs_ against Alec's chest and wraps his arms tighter around him. Sunlight sets their bedroom aglow; the hubbub of early morning traffic filters in through the open window. 

Alec nuzzles at Magnus' hair, then makes an unsuccessful move to disentangle himself from the blankets they're under. Magnus can hear the smile when Alec speaks. 

"Babe..."

The first time Alec had tried to get up, Magnus had rolled over from the other side of the bed where he'd been sleeping and begun using him as a pillow. The second time, he'd plonked Chairman Meow down on Alec's chest as well, knowing his boyfriend could just as well resist the cat's doe eyes as he could breathing. 

The third time, Magnus had shooed away the cat and worked his fingers down Alec's body and -

Alec definitely hadn't protested. In fact, from the way he came moaning Magnus' name, Magnus would say he'd rather enjoyed it.  

"Stay." 

The word is a puff of Magnus' warm breath on Alec's left shoulder. From the shiver Alec gives involuntarily, Magnus reckons his boyfriend's willpower is draining rapidly. 

"C'mon," Magnus wheedles, "Your kids don't love you as much as I do."

"You're such a bad influence."

Magnus turns his head so he can look up at Alec, still pillowed on Alec's chest. 

"Are you gonna give me detention, Mr Lightwood?" he asks, trying to look innocent. 

Alec groans. 

"Don't play dirty, Magnus," he says, attempting admonishment. "If you start that we'll be here all day."

Magnus sends him a triumphant, heated look. Alec swats him and peels Magnus' hands away from his chest. 

"No, no - you're not winning this time," Alec says loudly. "I can't skip work - it's the first week back after summer break. I'm getting up."

Magnus glances down Alec's body and opens his mouth, but Alec pushes him away before he can say anything. 

" _Getting up_ , not getting  _it_ up." 

Magnus laughs and rolls away from Alec.

"Damn," Magnus says, still smiling. "That's my morning ruined."

Alec plants a kiss on Magnus that is probably supposed to be innocent, but somehow Magnus ends up with Alec's fingers in his hair and his tongue in Alec's mouth. 

Eventually Alec wrenches himself away. He peels himself from the bed and Magnus watches him get dressed, petting Chairman absently. 

"I think I just heard noises in Rafael's room," Alec says. 

Magnus nods. "It takes him a while to wake up, but he'll probably come in at eight - when the big hand's on the twelve and the little hand's on the eight."

Alec pauses buttoning up his shirt and turns to Magnus, an eyebrow cocked. 

"Thanks for that," he says. "I never learnt how to tell the time."

Magnus throws a pillow at him, which he dodges, laughing. 

"Shut your sassy mouth, Lightwood," he grumbles, though he can't stop the smile playing at his lips. Alec seems to do that to him. "He's only eight."

"Should I go before he comes in?" Alec asks, turning serious for a moment. 

Magnus appraises him. "Please stay. I told him before that you stayed over and he was upset that you didn't say goodbye." He drops his gaze to Chairman; strokes his fingers through the cat's fur.

Alec chooses a tie from the selection he keeps in Magnus' closet and then comes over, perching on the bed beside Magnus. Just over a year to the day they first met, and who'd've thought? Magnus beams and Alec smiles right back, eyes crinkling at the corners. He leans in and presses a quick kiss to Magnus' lips. 

"I guess if Rafael says anything, we could always say it was a parent-teacher conference," Alec suggests, fingers fiddling with the material of the tie. 

"Alexander, darling," Magnus begins, reaching out to adjust Alec's tie for him, "if you're having the same kind of _conference_ we had last night with all your students' parents, I think we need to have words."

Alec laughs and kisses Magnus placatingly. "You're the only one for me," he says, and suddenly the playfulness is sucked from the room. All Magnus can focus on is Alec's hazel eyes, regarding him warmly, and he inhales sharply, heart rabbiting against his chest. 

"I love you," he says, and Alec's saying it back before Magnus has even finished speaking.

"I love you, Magnus."

Magnus leans in and rests his forearms on Alec's shoulders, fingers tangling in his hair. When Magnus kisses him, Alec pulls them flush against each other. After several minutes they have to stop kissing because they're smiling too much, and Magnus rests his forehead against Alec's. 

Alec is just opening his mouth to say something when the bedroom door opens and Magnus' eight o'clock alarm beeps.

"Morning, Dad," Rafael says, rubbing his eyes. "Oh, hey, Alec."

Magnus breaks away from Alec and hugs his son. "Morning," he says, pressing a kiss to Raf's sleep-rumpled hair. "Did you sleep okay?"

Rafael nods. "What's for breakfast?"

Alec smiles and finishes getting ready. He only needs to put his socks on - a novelty pair Isabelle brought him for his birthday, with apple-eating, mortar board-wearing worms all over them, because apparently he's the literature nerd to her science nerd. Once he's done, he offers to make food for everyone, and Rafael happily follows him into the kitchen, telling Alec about the dream he had.

Hearing the low murmurs of Rafael and Alec's voices as they potter about makes something flip-flop pleasantly in Magnus' chest. He sweeps the blankets off himself and gets up, slipping into a magenta robe and pulling a brush through his hair. Then Magnus makes his way into the kitchen, ready to join Rafael and Alec, lightness in his every step.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm on [tumblr](http://lesbianclaryfairchilds.tumblr.com) :)


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